Marriage Says Your Life Will Not Go Unnoticed

by Stanley J. Leffew
(Texas)

When it comes to my favorite romantic movie love quotes, few have stood out to me as this one from the movie, "Shall We Dance."

This movie peaked my interest right away. A few years ago, I spent two years building into the romantic foundation of my life a passion for Ballroom Dance. Fred Astaire Dance Studio became a second home for me during that two year period and I absolutely loved it.

I expected this movie to offer a great dance element, but I didn't expect one of my favorite movie quotes of all time concerning marriage would come from it. The movie itself wasn't my most memorable, but I will remember this quote from it for many years to come.

In the movie, the character Richard Gere plays decides to join a dance class and doesn't tell his wife (played by Susan Sarandon). She hires a Private Investigator thinking his late night escapades mean he is possibly not honoring his marriage. She has this memorable dialog with the PI in the film.

"All these promises that we make and we break...why is it that you think people get married? We need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet..... I mean, what does any one life mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things..... all of it, all the time, every day. You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go unwitnessed because I will be your witness'".